diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts
index b29d33a069bf..779757cbcc8e 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-sync-ops.ts
@@ -1059,13 +1059,13 @@ export abstract class MemoryManagerSyncOps {
       agentId: string;
       sessionId: string;
       sessionKey: string;
-      targetKind?: string;
+      targetKind: "active-session-file" | "runtime-session";
     };
   }): MemorySessionSyncTarget | null {
     if (update.sessionFile && isSessionArchiveArtifactName(path.basename(update.sessionFile))) {
       return null;
     }
-    if (update.target && update.target.targetKind !== "active-session-file") {
+    if (update.target?.targetKind === "runtime-session") {
       const agentId = update.target.agentId.trim();
       const sessionId = update.target.sessionId.trim();
       const sessionKey = update.target.sessionKey.trim();
diff --git a/src/sessions/transcript-events.test.ts b/src/sessions/transcript-events.test.ts
index 52fd7b71e036..699763754f19 100644
--- a/src/sessions/transcript-events.test.ts
+++ b/src/sessions/transcript-events.test.ts
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ describe("transcript events", () => {
         agentId: "main",
         sessionId: "sess-1",
         sessionKey: "agent:main:main",
-        targetKind: "runtime-session",
+        targetKind: "active-session-file",
       },
       agentId: "main",
       sessionId: "sess-1",
diff --git a/src/sessions/transcript-events.ts b/src/sessions/transcript-events.ts
index fffbdde0f04d..b49ccab1e537 100644
--- a/src/sessions/transcript-events.ts
+++ b/src/sessions/transcript-events.ts
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ function normalizeUpdateTarget(update: {
   agentId?: string;
   sessionId?: string;
   sessionKey?: string;
+  sessionFile?: string;
   target?: SessionTranscriptUpdate["target"];
 }): SessionTranscriptUpdateTarget | undefined {
   const sessionKey =
@@ -93,7 +94,11 @@ function normalizeUpdateTarget(update: {
     normalizeOptionalString(update.target?.sessionId) ?? normalizeOptionalString(update.sessionId);
   const targetKind =
     normalizeTargetKind(update.target?.targetKind) ??
-    (agentId && sessionId && sessionKey ? "runtime-session" : undefined);
+    (agentId && sessionId && sessionKey
+      ? normalizeOptionalString(update.sessionFile)
+        ? "active-session-file"
+        : "runtime-session"
+      : undefined);
   if (!agentId || !sessionId || !sessionKey || !targetKind) {
     return undefined;
   }